The start of the race was interrupted, resulting in the race being restarted and shortened in distance to 27 laps.

A mechanical problem for Dani Pedrosa meant he sacrificed pole position and had to restart from the back of the grid. The Spaniard then crashed out early in the race when Hector Barberá clipped his back tyre.

With his main rival out of the contest Lorenzo maintained his lead, eventually winning the race by 4.398 seconds ahead of Rossi in second place, while Bautista claimed third by only 0.003 seconds.

"I almost crashed in the first corner on the third lap, but somehow I saved it and after that it was hard to keep concentration as I saw Valentino was quite fast in the middle of the race," said Lorenzo.

"This was an important race to win and it was a fantastic result for the championship."Racing weather conditions were ideal, fine and warm with a peak track temperature of 35°C.

A combination of Bridgestone's softer rear and harder front slicks was the preferred tyre choice for riders, with the selection unanimous.

"Track conditions were at the best level of the entire race weekend as there was no overnight rain and the ambient temperatures were higher than previous days," said Masao Azuma, Chief Engineer of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department.

"Every rider on the grid selected the same tyre combination of the softer rear slick paired with the harder front, which was not surprising as this was widely used in earlier qualifying sessions which took place in similar weather conditions.

Lorenzo's sixth win of the season, coupled with Pedrosa's early race exit, sees his championship lead grow to 38 points.

Pedrosa remains in second place in the championship table ahead of teammate Casey Stoner who is still recovering from injury.